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Better Nate Than Ever
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
17 posts | 21 read | 1 reading | 7 to read
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Publishers' Weekly Best Book of the Year, and a Slate Favorite Book of the Year. A small-town boy hops a bus to New York City to crash an audition for E.T.: The Musical.Nate Foster has big dreams. His whole life, hes wanted to star in a Broadway show. (Heck, hed settle for seeing a Broadway show.) But how is Nate supposed to make his dreams come true when hes stuck in Jankburg, Pennsylvania, where no one (except his best pal Libby) appreciates a good show tune? With Libbys help, Nate plans a daring overnight escape to New York. Theres an open casting call for E.T.: The Musical, and Nate knows this could be the difference between small-town blues and big-time stardom. Tim Federles hilarious and heartwarming debut novel (Publishers Weekly) is full of broken curfews, second chances, and the adventure of growing upbecause sometimes you have to get four hundred miles from your backyard to finally feel at home.
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Brooke_H
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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Recent reads. Loved them all except Bad Twin…

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Brooke_H
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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Pickpick

I watched the Better Nate Than Ever musical film on Disney Plus not too long ago and enjoyed it. So I thought I'd just read the middle-grade novel it was based on. Not at all suprisingly, the book is better. Like way better. Like I was surprised at how excellent it is. Nate is sweet, smart, charming, resourceful, brave, and so funny. I LOL'd at various points (and yes, got choked up too). And I loved all the musical references.

18 likes1 stack add
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ravenlee
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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Mehso-so

I wanted to like this a lot more. Nate, a musical-loving misfit from small-town PA, sneaks to NYC for a clandestine audition. Lots of things go right, more things go wrong. Nate learns about the theater business, his family, and himself.

But he‘s self-centered (ok, he‘s 13, everyone‘s self-centered at 13) and completely unaware of what to expect from every aspect of his adventure. I liked it more as it went on, but overall it‘s a meh.

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ravenlee
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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Library #bookhaul - my banned book. Ordered a pizza to pick up on the way home from the library but they said 30-45 minutes...so we sit in the library parking lot and read. At least this time I got something for myself!

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Peddler410
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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Pickpick

Such a wonderful story! Nate sets out to make his dreams happen only to have things go terribly wrong! But .... there is a wonderful light at the end of his tunnel!
Great middle grade book!
#caudill2019 #huggable #2018mglgbtq

Lmstraubie This was a great story. I also liked the sequel 6y
24 likes1 comment
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tokyoseg
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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I only read the first line of the summary and it said BROADWAY so I had to get it 🤩 seems it‘s a bit on the young side with the main character being only 13, but oh well. Show must go on. Does anyone have rec for a novel with Broadway setting? Just musical theater also goes 🙏🏻 #Broadway #musicals

laurieluna I think this is quite a young one too, I read it when I was 17 but remember it having a musical theme and being very funny! 6y
tokyoseg @miralunasbooknook thanks! I‘ll check it out 😊 6y
Peddler410 I recently read this which has a musical tie in — it was published in 2009 but I found it wonderful even if a little dated 6y
tokyoseg @Peddler410 thanks! Does sound interesting, added it my want to read list on goodreads! 6y
6 likes1 stack add4 comments
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WanderingBookaneer
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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Mehso-so

I had such high expectations for this book, which is perhaps why I merely liked it. I found Nate's naiveté irritating at times. He reminded me of Jonah from Sleepless in Seattle with his tech savvy and "knowledgable" best friend helping him behind the scenes. While these characters were cute in a 90s rom-com, they feel a bit dated in 2017.

Cinfhen The premise sounds soooo adorable 🙃but I trust your opinion 😍I'm not really a YA / MS reader 7y
52 likes1 comment
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GatheringBooks
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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#FallIntoBooks Day 2: #BookRainbow - I have yet to read these books but they clearly seem 🌈 themed to me! :)

RealLifeReading They look fun! 7y
xxlexibaexx I've read both and they are so good! 5y
17 likes2 comments
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Chelsibno
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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Pickpick

Nate will do anything to achieve his Broadway dream. So when E.T.: The Musical is casting, he runs away to NYC to tryout for the lead. I've never read a book focusing on a boy who loves theater before. This book does a great job of showcasing a type of character we rarely see in middle grade fiction. Nate is such a funny and sweet character that will endear himself to readers.

Lmstraubie This next one is worth the read too. 7y
35 likes1 comment
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UwannaPublishme
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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It's the 15th Hour already and we're celebrating #diversebooks and #ownvoices during the #24in48 Readathon. Thanks to the awesome recommendations on #Litsy and the #ReadHarder Challenge, I personally have discovered and read more diverse books this year than ever before. Here are just a few of the many I'd recommend. Let's keep the trend going. We really do need more diverse books. 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

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Lmstraubie
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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#beyourself #junetunz @Cinfhen
It is so important to fill our libraries with books that show kids in all different lights. Every child should find themselves in a book.

Andrew65 Find themselves and then lose themselves in a book. 7y
Cinfhen This book cover gets me EVERY TIME 💓💓💓 7y
Lmstraubie @Andrew65 Exactly! 😁 7y
26 likes3 comments
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UwannaPublishme
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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Pickpick

What a feel-good YA book! This kid from PA yearns to star on Broadway, so he concocts a plan to sneak off to NYC to audition. You can't help smiling when you meet these endearing characters, catch the too-funny theatrical references and cheer for the steadfast underdogs. East Coasters will love Nate's innocent impressions of visiting the Big Apple for the first time in his life. They're priceless! #readharder #LGBTQauthor

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KerriNTurner
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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#lyricalapril #americanboy Nate is a thirteen-year-old musical theatre geek (whose sexuality is both undecided and none of your business, thank you very much!) who runs away to New York City to audition in an open casting call for ET: The Musical. Sweet, funny, and set in an iconic American city!

Cinfhen This sounds adorable ❤️🗽 7y
13 likes1 comment
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Jooshanoosh
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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Pickpick

Loved this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ representation matters!!

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Lmstraubie
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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Pickpick

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 I LOVED this book! I was pulled in from the first page and just adore Nate. Normally with a middle-grade read I only read the 1st one in the series to have an idea about it so I can make recommendations, but I need to hear more about Nate's story. #TimFederle tells this story with heart and humor. It's all too true that many kids today deal with the same harassing Nate gets being unsure of his sexuality.

Lmstraubie I love how leaving his little corner of the world lets him see there is nothing wrong with him. 7y
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jessplummer
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
Pickpick

13-year-old theater kid Nate Foster runs away from his tiny Pennsylvania town to NYC to audition for ET: The Musical. Hilarious and so, so sweet. I just wanted to give Nate a hug and tickets to every show in town.

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bookstacksamber
Better Nate Than Ever | Tim Federle
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xxlexibaexx I loved this line when I first read it! 5y
7 likes1 stack add1 comment